Eternal Silence
by Toxikchic9
Summary: Gage loses his hearing and Sydney is keeping him company. It goes on from there.
1. Eternal Silence

Eternal Silence - Part 1  
Note: This fic takes place right after Gage looses his hearing saving Syd from a  
bomb. That will explain a lot. Also, this is my first fic, so please review! If you like  
it I'll post part two, but if you don't, I think I'll go back to just reading fics. :) Enjoy :)  
  
Gage sat in his chair, waiting, not exactly sure how he felt. He was anxious for his  
surgery, but there were so many other emotions. The emotions weren't the worst part  
though. It was the silence. He never thought silence was so bad. Not until it became  
eternal. When he lost his hearing, it was like he lost everything. He couldn't be a ranger  
anymore, and being a ranger was everything to him. It was his life. He had wanted to be a  
ranger since he was a kid, but now he couldn't do it. To make matters worse, his partner,  
Syd, was working alone, and if this surgery didn't fix his hearing, she'd have to find a  
replacement. For once, he wasn't just being a pessimist about the operation. Originally the  
doctor had said there was a chance his hearing would come back on it's own, but it didn't.  
Then the doctor said he could perform this surgery, but it might not totally fix his hearing,  
or it might not work at all. Syd walked into his apartment, breaking his train of thought.  
He hadn't noticed it had gotten so late. This was the one good thing that came out of the  
silence. Sydney had decided that it was her duty as his partner, to take care of him. He had  
like her for a long time, and enjoyed spending time with her. He was a brave guy, no  
doubt, but he couldn't muster up the courage to tell her how he felt. If he told her and she  
didn't feel the same way, their work relationship would be ruined. Worst of all, their  
friendship would be in jeopardy. No matter how much he wanted to tell her, it wasn't  
worth loosing that friendship over. It didn't mater anyway. She waved hello, and  
motioned for him to come to the kitchen with her. It was almost funny, the way she acted  
like he couldn't get up, or take care of himself. She treated him like a baby. Not that he  
minded all the attention. He wandered into the kitchen, very aware of his soundless  
footsteps. He joined Syd at the table. She started to talk, but the words bypassed his ears,  
leaving him in silence. Looking at him, she realized her mistake, and wrote on a napkin,  
"Sorry. What do you want for dinner?" Gage thought a moment and said, "I don't care. It  
doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore." Syd looked at him, concerned. This wasn't like  
Gage, but then again, she'd never seen his reaction to such a big loss before. Maybe he  
didn't know how to cope. "Okay," she wrote, and got up to start cooking something.  
Gage's mind started to wander, and he started to think about the operation again. The very  
worst part was that he would be alone. Syd had to work, and his sister was currently  
covering a story in Oklahoma. She didn't even know what had happened. It's not like it  
really mattered, because the anesthetic would knock him out, but it was the thought of  
being alone that was so depressing. Lots of things were depressing now. Syd plopped two  
plates of scrambled eggs, one for her and one for him, down at the table. "I hope you like  
these. What time do you have to be at the hospital tomorrow?" she wrote on the napkin.  
"I have to be there at 8:10, and I'll be staying over night. They probably let me out  
sometime in the morning. Why?" said Gage. It was weird how he knew what he was  
saying, but he couldn't hear it. "I asked Walker if I could take the rest of the week off,  
because I know you're going through a hard time, and you shouldn't have to go through it  
alone. That's what friends are for," she wrote. Gage smiled, "That's what friends are for,"  
he thought as he started to eat. He almost wanted to tell her right then, but he changed his  
mind, and the silence took over. The eternal silence. 


	2. Feelings Unspoken - Eternal Silence Part...

Note: Please don't flame my story! I'm trying really hard, so give me some credit! But please review! Thanks. Enjoy:)  
  
Sydney checked her watch again. Gage had been in surgery for 3 hours, but she had been  
told it was a 1 and a half hour procedure. This worried her. What if things hadn't gone as  
planned, or if the doctors had made a serious mistake and Gage was in trouble. No, that  
was silly. Maybe Gage wasn't sure, and just made up a length of time, Sydney reassured  
herself. Just then her cell-phone rang.  
  
"Hello, Syd, this is Trivette, how's Gage?" asked the voice on the phone.  
  
"I don't know. He hasn't come out of surgery yet."  
  
"Oh, that's weird. I hope Gage gets back on the job soon. It's not the same without him  
here. There's another incoming call, I have to go, but I hope everything goes well,"  
Trivette said as he hung up, the monotonous hum that echoed in Syd's ear telling her that  
he was gone.  
  
"I hope so to," Syd said to herself as she turned the phone off, sighing.  
  
"Excuse me Ranger Cooke, Ranger Gage is now out of surgery, and in a room. Would  
you like to see him?" asked a nurse.  
  
" Yes, please," she said, anxious at the thought of seeing her partner.  
  
Sydney was led down a long corridor into a room filled with machines, and beeping  
noises. Gage was lying in the bed, hooked up to an IV unit, sleeping. Motionless, except  
for the slight rise and fall of he chest as he breathed.   
  
He almost looks cute lying there, Syd thought to herself. He's so peaceful.  
  
Memories rushed back to her, of her and Gage busting criminals, and racing down the  
road after them. That made her smile. Gage always seemed to be the one who drove, and  
when he revved up the speed, it was really fun. It was a roller coaster, in the fact that you  
felt like the car was out of control, but you knew that you were safe. Gage always made  
her feel safe. She remembered the night Alex and Walker's plane got kidnapped, and how  
she, Gage, and Trivette had been waiting at C.D.'s for any news. That reminded her of the  
kiss. She was so happy and excited she didn't think. She just turned to Gage, and did the  
first thing that came to her mind. She kissed him. It wasn't like any other kiss she had  
experienced before. It was magical, and it felt like something within her melted. She often  
thought about that kiss. Looking at Gage's face, she wondered if he ever thought about  
that kiss as well. The one thing she had often thought to herself, and wanted to ask him  
was why he kissed her back. When he kissed her back, it wasn't just any kiss. He  
REALLY kissed her. They never really talked about it, although Syd almost asked him  
about a couple of times. Gage had brought it up once, but Syd had ignored it, not wanting  
to talk about it. But the thing was she did. She wanted to scream about it, and tell  
everyone how great it was, she just couldn't express herself without sounding stupid. It  
was an inexplicable feeling.   
  
Looking at Gage again, she leaned over and brushed her lips against his. Maybe they  
would be able to talk about it someday. For now, all she could hope was that he would  
regain his hearing, and they could be partners again. So she locked those feelings up inside  
a special place in her heart, and lost herself in memories. 


	3. Finale - Eternal Silence Part 3

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine. They are TopKick Production's, and CBS's and whoever else's but they're not mine. SO DON'T SUE ME! Thank you.  
  
Note to Readers: Sorry about the long wait. I was in a goriegn country and had NO ACCESS TO FANFICTION.NET WHAT SO EVER! Man is it great to be back. Happy reading!  
  
Gage awoke to sounds all around him. Nurses walked down the hall, their rubber soles of their shoes squeaking slightly on the polished tile; machines beeped relentlessly; and the familiar voices of Trivette and Walker sounded like music in his ears. He opened his eyes, eagerly wanting to tell his friends the good news.  
  
"Hey guys, would you keep it down over there? Some people ARE trying to sleep you know!"  
  
Caught off guard, Walker and Trivette laughed.  
  
"How are you feeling Gage? I'm glad to see you can hear again," Walker said.  
  
"I'm feeling great! You have no idea how much I missed all those little noises you hear everyday, and take for granted. How long have I been out, one night?"  
  
"Actually it's been more like 4 days. For some odd reason the anesthetic worked REALLY well, and you were out initially for the next day, but then they wanted to run some tests, so they gave you another dose. I'm really happy that you'll be back on the job soon, Gage," Trivette added.  
  
Gage looked at his friends and suddenly realized that Sydney was missing. This upset him slightly because he had thought she would be there when he woke up. She had been taking such good care of him before the surgery. so he had just assumed she would do so afterwards also.   
  
"Don't fool yourself," he thought to himself, "she does have a life you know."  
  
But the question of her location nagged at him.  
  
"Guys, where's Syd? I want to tell her the good news!" he said, trying not to make it sound like he REALLY wanted her to be there, or that he had expected her to be right by his side.  
  
Walker and Trivette exchanged glances, and suddenly Gage noticed something wasn't right. What HAD they been talking about when he had just woken up? He remembered something vaguely like, "It'll be hard to tell him. We should wait."   
  
"Guys, what happened to Sydney? Why isn't she here? Please tell me what's wrong, because I KNOW something is wrong."  
  
"Gage," Trivette started, "I really don't think right now is the time for us to be talking about this. You just woke up, and ..."  
  
"It might be a shock. A little hard to swallow right away." Walker finished.  
  
"This really isn't funny. I asked where Sydney was, and I expect and answer. What would make this so hard to swallow anyway? She's my partner and my friend, and I deserve to know," Gage said firmly.  
  
Walker sighed, realizing that he was trapped, and began.  
  
"Sydney was needed desperately to go on an undercover investigation three days ago, because she's the best woman ranger we've got. So she was sent to a party where a lot of important drug lords were meeting. She got in with one of the drug lords, Heath O'Shagne but last night he discovered that she was a ranger and..." Walker's voice trailed off, not wanting to finish the story.  
  
"...and she was shot." Trivette finished. "He hit her right in the chest. She's here in the hospital now, but Gage, it doesn't look too good. They don't think she'll make it to tomorrow."  
  
Tears streamed down Gage's face as he thought of what Sydney must have gone through that night. Just the thought of her in any sort of pain was bad enough, but her life being cut short by some stupid druggie was more than he could handle.   
  
"I'm really sorry Gage, I know how much she means to you," Walker said.  
  
"If only you did, '' Gage muttered to himself through his tears, "if only she did."  
  
"Can I see her?"  
  
"Yes, the doctors said she can have one visitor at a time, and your doctor told us to let him know when you woke up, so that he could let you visit her." Walker said as he pushed the button, and called the doctor.  
  
After a minute or two, the doctor came in. Surprised at seeing Gage crying he said, "Maybe I run the test results by you later, and just let you go see Miss Ranger Cooke right now."  
  
Gage go out of bed, and was led to the room where Sydney lay, all bandaged, with oxygen, IV's, and all sorts of other machines hooked up to her. Although she looked serene, it was too much for Gage, and he started to cry harder, not believing what was happening.  
  
As he sat down next to her, looking at her perfect, he took her hand.  
  
"Syd, I know this isn't the way I wanted to tell you this, but I really think I have to. I love you, and I need you. Sometimes the only thing that gets me up in the morning is that I'm going to see you at work. You make me smile, you watch my back for me, and I've always tried to do the same for you. I always tried to keep you out of danger. Believe me, I really did. Now, while I'm asleep, they send you away, and I couldn't' watch your back, and you get shot. If I hadn't had this stupid problem, I could've prevented all of this! I'll never forgive myself. You deserve so much better than this. You deserve to live a long happy life, without any pain. This isn't fair."  
  
Suddenly the line on the heart monitor went flat, and machines started beeping insanely. Doctors rushed in the door, and shoving Gage out of the room. There was a frenzy all around him. He peered in the window to see that they were using electric shocks to try and revive her heart. He saw the doctor turn to the nurse and he heard, "I think we've lost this one."  
  
"NO SYD!" he cried. "Don't leave me, just hang on for a little longer. Don't leave me here all alone. I love you!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Suddenly a familiar hand stroked his face gently. His hand went to meet this other one, and he opened his eyes to find Sydney leaning over is hospital bed looking worried.   
  
Tears were streaming down his face freely as he hugged her, and held her close to him, as though he would absolutely never let him go.  
  
"I'll never let it happen to you Syd. I'll NEVER let it happen!"  
  
She slowly rocking him back and forth, trying to calm him down. Finally the tears stopped flowing, so she let him go. After sitting in silence Syd couldn't keep her feelings inside her anymore. She might never feel this way again, and she might as well tell him.  
  
"I love you Gage. I really love you, and I don't know if you can hear me, but...that's how I feel," she whispered in his ear, hoping that he could hear her true feelings.  
  
Gage was caught by surprise. He could hear again, and what he heard was certainly an unexpected, but welcome surprise.  
  
"I love you too, Syd, I love you to," he said, and they just sat together, holding each other, glad that the eternal silence had finally been lifted.  
  
The Beginning 


End file.
